Why is employee involvement in the change process a good strategy?

Employee involvement in planning for change is a good strategy because it can increase or maintain employee motivation and reduce employee resistance to the changes that are being planned.

Employees are often resistant to change. This is natural since people do not like to have to adjust once they have found a comfortable way to do things. This is particularly true in very important things like one’s career. Therefore, changes in a business can often be met with hostility and/or fear on the part of the employees.

By including employees in the planning process, these problems can be avoided or at least mitigated. Employees who are included in the planning process will have more time to digest the changes and will feel less stressed about them. They will understand the need for the changes and the reasoning behind them. They will also hopefully feel some ownership of the changes because they will have been involved in making the plans for those changes. All of this should work to increase or, at the very least, maintain their motivation.

Thus, including employees in planning is a good strategy because it reduces negative reactions to change.